P.S. I totally forgot to say that my bike is under way with repairs. I will have a better update from the shop on Wednesday if the part for the fork has come in. Once the fork comes in, they will cut down the top to fit the size of the bike, then grab a wheel, and then take it all home to finish the job with the wheel and tube bit. It came out to a total of $150 of damage. Doesn't sound too bad. I thought worse. Oh well. What's done is done.

Dear family and everyone else, This week has not been utterly terrible. As some of you are aware, it's my dad's birthday today, April 25th. Wish him happy birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY dad!!! Things that have been decently good this week... well, on Saturday, was the Love Manteca Service Day. Us, Lathrop, YSA, and Union did service at the cemetery. We dug and ripped out overgrown grass that was covering the plot pavement areas at the cemetery. It was well needed since people in the past were stealing money from the city instead of taking care of the place like they should have been doing. In July, they will be hiring a new manager to take care of the cemetery so it can be given the care that it needs. I could just imagine all the spirits next to their graves, or in one major group saying thank you! We also uncovered an old family plot name at the gate area that people are supposed to enter in, but people usually don't. We also uncovered a 28 year old grave stone that has been completely buried by dirt and has sunk a little. It was slightly cracked, so we made a note of it for the future manager to figure out someday. We finished up by having lunch with eating cake and hot dogs and a banana. An hour after we finished the cemetery, we changed from our proselyting clothes, because we were asked to in the first place, to do service for Sister White with our district leader, Elder Ahau. He for some reason was on an emergency exchange just before the transfer ended with another district leader from San Andreas named Elder Nielsen. It was good to see him again. Sister White was updating her yard to be more water efficient. She ripped out half of her grass to put in water saving plants with nice mulch. It was the day of service. We accomplished a lot that day. Sister White was grateful. I'm still trying to figure out if I am at all related to her. We then finished the day having dinner with the Eckle's at Mongolian BBQ. Throughout this week, we have been talking to Giovanni. He's just been super busy tending his daughter until her mom picks her back up at the end of the week. We talked a little bit about what the Book of Mormon is all about and some stories there are inside. He became even more interested in reading it. We've also been trying to get in contact to help him get this Gospel Art book that Elder Guernsey has shown him. It was inconvenient and embarrassing when he showed all the different pictures, but he at least grew to better understand the plot line of many scriptural references and church history. We have almost answered every question that Luke has about the church. He just for some reason cannot let go of the belief in the Niassan Creed, which believes in one being with 3 different personalities or something of the sort. We got him to read 1st and 2nd Nephi, and funny story is he started quoting those scriptures to his active parents and they were bewildered. He's come a long ways, but we are not done yet. We hope that when he reads the entire Book of Mormon, he will receive a confirmation that it is living scripture, and that he will accept that Joseph Smith translated The Book of Mormon, and that he is a prophet of God, who in turn tells all mankind that the Godhead is three separate beings. Maria Johnson is still doing wonderful in the gospel of Christ. She comes to church, participates in activities with her fiancee. Brother Richard Cursey had eye surgery, so he can see a lot better in one eye now. Thank goodness all went well for him. We taught lesson one and two I believe again with her. Lastly, this week, we have been working almost daily with Marsh Baker with her piling issues. Her car was towed away for some reason, and she got her court papers back to fight for her apartment that in a month she will be evicted from. She has also been stolen from by many homeless people due to her roommate letting them in. She had a good council with him, and they both set bounds for each other. She will be nicer as long as he doesn't let anyone in anymore. We gave her a talk to listen to together, and a copy for her to restudy, and she grasped and applied what she learned. She learned from the talk from a seventy that we need to take care of ourselves with our basic needs first before we take care of other people. She took it too hard and went straight up bold. It was a huge 180 for her in one or two days. We were surprised. She seemed slow before. Her desire for the gospel grows evermore fierce as she continues to learn. Now, she just needs to stop smoking once and for all. We have confidence in her. I forgot to mention that I am pleased to announce that I will be staying here in Northland Ward with Elder Shepherd. I will let you all know who I will have for dinner on Mother's Day and what time. Love you all.This is what happened this week.

Dear family and everyone else, I seemed to have a SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS this past weekend, but before I get to the bad stuff, I will first tell you all of the good things that happened. On Monday, I played some more Settler's of Catan with a 20 year old in our ward named Nate. Another update from him was that he got a new job at Wal-Mart as a meat cutter starting at $11 an hour. There is a confirmed minimum wage raising of $15 an hour in the next 4 or 5 years, so that's going to do more bad than good. Everything else around here will just go up too balancing everything out. He certainty was kicking my butt at the game being his first time. I won the last 2 games with Elder Shepherd. It was just the luck of the role. I did not plan that one out very well. It's a travel size edition, so it's convenient for me as a missionary. Elder Shepherd gave it to me as a gift. He didn't want it, so I took it. On Thursday, we had our normal district meeting, and then we spent pretty much 5 hours down in Tracy waiting for President interviews. It would have been inconvenient to drive all the way back to Manteca 1/2 an hour away and then go back an hour later, so we stayed. A lot of us gathered in the chapel by the piano, and then we got an idea to sing hymns and primary songs together since we had a couple piano players with us. It was fun and entertaining to pass time, and faith building. President never had missionaries sing hymns during interviews. He loved us for doing it, so did Sister Palmer. Apparently, Sister Palmer told Elder Shepherd, "So your the mission gypsy." He replied, "Sure Sister Palmer, whatever you say." I thought it was slightly funny. Elder Shepherd agreed. He never seems to stay in one spot for very long. During my interview, I asked President if I could have permission to go to the Oakland Temple to see the Rutherford's sealed in July or August. He said that the 70 usually allow missionaries to go do that, so he will ask. I will give the specifics to him, and then I will see that huge temple on a hill. I feel it will be an amazing day. I will also get in communication with the Rutherford's to make sure they have a plan soon or if they are still active. I'm pretty sure they are holding strong. They have made such a huge change in their family's life. I'm still happy for them. Maybe I will be able to see Brother Brown after all- my former companion. I also told President that I thought my worst experience was over. Boy was I wrong. He warned me, "Now don't get your hopes too high Elder! You might just get something you might not have expected." I never thought my series of unfortunate events would be so soon. The next day, Friday, we exchanged after weekly planning, and I had a good time with him in his area of Union Ward. They were currently going through their potentials list. At the end of the day, we rode in the car home from Manteca, all the way to Tracy where their apartment was. I don't know why. I saw plenty of apartments in their area. Maybe they were super expensive. But that's another story. As it was 8:30, and being pitch black on the I-120 freeway, Elder Robinson noticed that there was only one bike on the rack. He quickly pulled over and we came to find out that MY BIKE fell off going about 65 miles an hour, so we ran back about 50 yards and we saw my bike on the other side of the road. Thank goodness too. Or else there might have been a car accident. Praise the lord for a small blessing to other people and our own safety. We ran across and retrieved the bent wheel and the bike with a broken off fork, as you can see in my pictures that I sent to my family. We then loaded the bike into the trunk and drove the rest of the way. I'm not sure if using his lock on the bike rack would have helped much. It could have gotten low enough that it would drag on the road or something far worse than what did happen, but I still wish we would have locked up before I went, then I wouldn't be in such a predicament. So, we get home, and unload our bikes. Then I scraped my pinky on the bike making the bottom bleed. There was my other unfortunate event. I was not a happy person this weekend, but my mood was made up with this last event. On Sunday night, we had a classical music concert at the church. We had two investigators show up-- Marsh Baker, and Luke, the Eckle's son. It was really good listening to some hymns being sung and played. There was one song that involved a violinist. I know my younger sister would have been fascinated with that song medley. There also was an older man that sang Josh Groban's song, "Thankful". When he sang that song with great force, echoing the entire meeting hall, the very words forced themselves deep into my soul. "It's up to us to be the cause of great change...there's so much to be thankful for." It reminded me of what was said in General Conference which is to take care of the poor and needy in our communities, the refugees, and the terrible sin that has infested this world. There is so much more need in the world than what I need. People are starving for food, and I just need a simple but not so simple bike repair. I have much less room to complain than a starving child or an uneducated person who has taken refuge somewhere in this world. I pray that the world can become a better place when we do much missionary work, change our hearts, and give peace instead of praying for peace in the world. All that is unfair in this life can and will be overcome through the power of the atonement. In other news, I am guessing that Sister Palmer is following my blog now. She liked my idea of a mission blog, so, I gave my web address to her to look at. We also gave service to Giovanni in transporting his donated couch to migrant workers from Mexico. Elder Shepherd told me while I was gone that after he helped finish, Giovanni was in tears and expressed his fond gratitude for our help. We also taught Marsh Baker the rest of the word of wisdom while she was cooking tri-tip. I was full, but I still tasted a bite. It was okay. This week, we are going to help out with the Love Manteca service project. There is much to do and President has urged us to participate in this service opportunity with other religious groups. We also plan on fixing a fence for one our kind of investigators, Marianne. She is super weak, tired, and sick all the time, so we don't go over very often. We may not get a whole lot of teaching done this week because it's so packed with service opportunities. Farewell to all until I write my next letter next week.Sincerely with love,Elder White

Dear Family and Everyone Else, This week has been a little slow but finished with a big bang!!! Maria Elena Franco Johnson (I know, 4 names right) got baptized on Saturday and was confirmed on Sunday. The font took a little while to fill though. It took a total of 1 hour and 5 minutes. That 5 minutes cut a little into the opening hymn. It was building stress on the both of us. From now on, I am going to blast the water in at the beginning, then turn off the cold water later and let the hot water run for it to warm up. I also thought that the drain was going and I thought it wasn't completely plugged. I later learned that the draining sound was the overflow. I felt really dumb after that experience. When she was confirmed yesterday, she had tears of joy because she found the true gospel in her life. She was Catholic before and was kind of questioning it. Elder Shepherd, Elder Guernsey, and Elder Peterson were moving a member in the retirement complex when a man, Richard (in the picture), called out to the elders saying he wanted to introduce them to his girlfriend. She said that she wanted to learn. She just didn't know that she was going to be baptized in a month. They have also announced their wedding. It's going to be May 14th-- next month. It was some exciting news. Also this week, we invited Marsha Baker to the baptism and she loved it and the music. She also came to the ward 'old Texan dinner'. There even was a fiddler. My family, especially my younger sister, would have loved it. There were even some little kids that decided to dance in the middle in front of the fiddler as you can see in the back of the picture. It was a chili cook off with desserts and some pastas as well. Overall, Saturday was a great night of baptism and party. On Sunday, there was also a fast and testimony meeting because of General Conference. I was hoping Maria would bear her testimony of what she came to find was true, but she's still learning herself and I'm not pushing anything on anybody if they feel uncomfortable. Also that night, we were asked to help out with mission preparation class for the stake. We role played 2 situations that teenagers face in a high school setting. We helped them understand how to place a Book of Mormon and its importance in the Mormon Faith.These are the exciting moments of my week.Sincerely,Elder White

Dear family and everyone else, General Conference has come and gone and we have been blessed to hear from such wonderful leaders of the church. I couldn't help but ponder how emotional President Uchtdorf was after that talk about taking care of the refugees. Being a refugee once himself, I could see how hard it was for him to hold it together in conducting the next segment of that session. I pray that the world can be kinder, respectful, and be able to uplift one another. Perhaps this is a call out to us members to donate a more generous fast offering than we normally do on Fast Sunday's, but remember to do so under your own means without risking debt or any financial trouble.The world wants peace, but the world will have none unless we heed to the prophet and the apostles. On that note, I will now tell you all about my week. On Tuesday, Elder Shepherd was able to solve his dentist problem, and the dentist agreed to fix his 2 cavities for free. The dentist said that one of the pre-cavities was a lot bigger than he thought when he started scraping the decay out. He got it all fixed without any problems besides the part of the face being numbed and not being able to bike for a few hours. It was slightly funny seeing how tired he was afterward when he returned. On Thursday, he also took back his 2 bikes to the shop in Modesto to exchange his new bike for work on his old bike. It was all in store credit so it worked out smoothly enough. He pretty much had to replace everything except for 2 tubes for his tires and the bike frame. Everything else is completely new. He said that he will still have $200 left over unable to take out of the store, so he is finding the most expensive stuff for his bike and asking other missionaries if they need anything for their bikes. So it all works out. Next item of business: I am pleased to announce that we will be having a baptism on Saturday. Afterwards, will be a chili cook off with the ward, so Saturday is going to be just spectacular. Her name is Maria Johnson. She is in her 70's. She is currently dating a member in Union Ward where our district Leader, Elder Ahau is located. They have also announced to us that they are going to get married on May 14th. It is all so exciting. Baptism, chili, and marriage. She has already received all the lessons and has been reading the Book of Mormon, and I think we all agree that she has sufficiently found an answer to her prayers and questions. Our other investigator, Marsha Baker, told us to not give up on her and that she wants to be a good Mormon. She calls herself, "MarshBaker, the Trouble Maker." I don't know why. She's really nice. It's everyone else that causes the chaos around her. Sometimes life isn't fair, but we can get over it, through the atonement. We found Jane still at her motel. She said that she decided to stay there 1 more week. That gives us a little more time with her to give her spiritual touch points. We have lifted her up so much. She has felt our love for her. I just pray that she will work out a deal with her boyfriend so they can find a place together so she doesn't go back onto the streets. I can't even imagine what it's like to live without a home and without comfort, yet I know the Lord comforts all. We talked to a person in our complex named Giovanni. He makes movie trailers and productions. The story lines were really cool and they involve the tree of life in the book of Genesis. It sounded cool, but his trailers can use a lot of fixing and better quality. But hey, he's just starting his career, so we didn't say anything mean. We listened to him and showed we cared and understood. He gets really busy and tired throughout his days. He drives all over California trying to shoot these videos.